


See Which Way the Wind is Blowing

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Multi, OT5, Pining, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23021725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "The North Wind is in love with Jack, and really doesn’t like it when Jack starts making gaga eyes at someone else.So it does everything you’d expect a jealous teenage girl to do to get her crush’s attention and ruin the competition at the same time.Which is all well and good, but the wind is a bit stronger than that. And it may keep sweeping Jack away into the stratosphere when he ignores it for someone else."Well, here it is, my last fic of the year! Party hats for everyone! I hope to start 2017 with some self-indulgent silliness, so look for that. Anyway, Jack likes all of the Guardians, and the Wind sees that the Guardians like him back–which is different from the other people Jack has liked over the years. So it decides to start causing a lot of trouble for everyone.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost/Nicholas St. North/Sanderson Mansnoozie/Toothiana
Kudos: 46
Collections: RotG Polyamory Fics





	See Which Way the Wind is Blowing

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 12/31/2016.

“So, um, what’s this all about?” Jack asked, looking around at the other Guardians. They weren’t in a formal setting, but even the comfortable chairs around one of the Workshop’s fireplaces couldn’t disguise the fact that the Guardians wore rather serious expressions, Tooth and Sandy especially. Now, Jack knew he was doing all right in his role as a Guardian. The smiles on the faces of his believers made that clear. But, what if they had realized…oh, but there was nothing to realize, really! Really! But then again, if there was something to realize, wouldn’t the Guardians confront him about it this way? Solemnly, respectfully, but not…not with any joy, not with any acceptance even, just a ‘Jack, you need to get over this,’ no doubt….  
  
“Is the wind part of you?” Bunny asked. “I know it’s how you fly, but is it _you_? Is it an expression of your powers?”  
  
This was so far from what Jack had convinced himself he was going to be asked about that he foundered for several moments. “I don’t think so, actually,” he said, when he finally managed to marshal his thoughts. “I think it’s a separate entity. Why do you ask?”  
  
Sandy raised his hand. _My cloud has been blown off course every time I’ve gone out to spread dreams for weeks, and even my dreams have struggled to get through the wind that surrounds me. I almost thought it was Pitch, back again, until I noticed that the wind didn’t try to interfere with the dreams once they were a little way away from me._ He tilted his head and shrugged a little. _I kind of like it when you look at my dreams before they go to the dreamers, but this isn’t the same thing at all._  
  
Jack frowned, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He’d never heard of the wind doing anything like that.  
  
“I’ve noticed some strange things, too,” Tooth said, drawing Jack’s puzzled gaze. “When my fairies are alone, they’re fine, but when I’m with them, the wind picks up enough to blow them off course. And when I go out into the field on my own, I have trouble keeping myself on track. In fact, it blew so strongly that I lost a lot of time on my route—enough so that I didn’t have time to visit you, Jack.” She smiled. “Sorry! It was something I really wanted to do. I don’t want you to feel like we’re leaving you alone anymore.”  
  
This statement would have been enough to distract Jack from the current problem, but Bunny brought him back to reality.  
  
“Since I spend most of my time in the Warren, I didn’t think any of this odd wind stuff would affect me,” he said. “But, right after you visited me, just recently, I went to work on, well, this special project I have, and the wind blew right after me and made a mess of all my supplies, set me back for weeks, really. But,” he continued, his expression lightening a bit, “at least you’ll be glad to know that I recognized that this was something strange, and that it wasn’t something you would do, now.”  
  
“Wow, that’s real progress,” Jack said, though not as casually as he had hoped. He turned to North. “What about you?”  
  
“Since we are at the North Pole, I have worked very hard to make sure that the Workshop is sealed from the wind,” North said. “But, I have noticed that I find more repairs that need to be done after you visit. Then again, perhaps this is because I wish to make sure your visits here are comfortable, and I become more exacting. Though, I do know, when I think about it, that you do not mind the wind and cold.”  
  
Jack found himself smiling a little, and in schooling his expression, he almost missed what North had to say next.  
  
“Since I had heard of the others’ troubles, though, I did call them here before you to ensure smooth travel. Now! When I called you here, did you have any trouble with the wind?”  
  
“No…wait. It did take me a lot longer than I expected to get here.” Jack leaned forward and rested his head on his hand. “The wind wasn’t sluggish, though,” he said. “I thought…I thought I kept getting distracted by things, but…no, I think the wind was guiding me through a really roundabout route.”  
  
“If the wind is a separate entity like you said, we need you to have a talk with it,” Bunny said. “Especially for Tooth and Sandy’s sake. Does it know it’s making things difficult for us? Does it have a reason why? How can we get it to stop?”  
  
“I…I’ve never expected an answer back when I talked to the wind before,” Jack said. He looked down. “Maybe it is some part of me that’s doing this for a reason I don’t consciously understand.”  
  
“Jack! That is all right,” North said. “We are first trying to figure out _why_. If the wind is you, we will work together to figure out why this is happening.”  
  
When Jack raised his head he found the others nodding in agreement with North.  
  
“Well, all right. I’ll try,” Jack said, trying not to blush. Of course they cared about him! That made it more important than ever not to give anything away by too-excessive reactions.  
  
He distracted himself from those thoughts by volunteering to go outside immediately and try to talk to the wind.  
  


* * *

  
  
“All right, Wind,” he said, as he perched on the Workshop’s highest point, “are you the Wind? Or are you me? Because if you’re me…I can guess that you’re showing that I’m having trouble facing my feelings for Sandy…and Tooth…and Bunny…and North. Because I know I can’t have all of them, or even any of them. And I’d want to linger around them, without actually being around them, because then they might start to suspect…or I want to keep them away from me because I’m afraid of my feelings growing any deeper…but how am I supposed to talk about that with any of them? I’d die of embarrassment.”  
  
 _Noooooooo_ , a faint voice wailed.  
  
Jack startled and almost fell off the roof. “Wind?”  
  
 _Yeeeessssssssss_ , the voice said. _Don’t dieeeeee._  
  
“I…um…I didn’t mean it literally,” Jack said.  
  
 _Ohhhhhhhh._  
  
“Hey, Wind—wow, I never thought I’d be able to talk to you—”  
  
 _Shyyyyyyy._  
  
“Um. All right. Well, since you’re here, can you tell me why you’ve been doing things like making it hard for Tooth and Sandy to stay on course and messing with Bunny and North’s stuff?”  
  
 _Yooouuuuuu like them._  
  
Jack frowned. “So, do you have to reflect my emotional issues? I’m really sorry about that; is there anything I can do to free you from that?”  
  
 _Yooooooouuuu’re so nice! And yoooooouuuuuu haven’t known them as long as me. I’ve always been with yooooouuuuuu. They haven’t always helped yoooooouuuuu. Not like meeeeeeee._  
  
Jack made his face carefully blank. This couldn’t be what he suddenly thought it was. “Well…since you’ve always been with me, you know I’ve liked other people before.”  
  
 _Thooooooose people didn’t look back at you in the same waaaaayyyyyy._  
  
So this was what he thought it was. The wind was jealous. Jack’s mind processed the shock rapidly, in favor of digging into the implications of the wind’s words. “Are you saying that the Guardians seem to like me back?” he asked excitedly. Unfortunately, this was probably the least advantageous thing he could have chosen to say.  
  
 _Yoooooouuuuuu didn’t know? And now I’ve told you, oh noooooooo!_  
  
The wind picked up, and only by moving faster than he’d ever moved in his life did Jack manage to grab onto the roof’s spire. “Wind, wait!” he shouted, though he could hardly hear himself over the howling gale. “We—we still have to talk this out! You can’t keep messing with the Guardians just because I—because they—” He broke off and swore under his breath as the spire shuddered in his hands. The wind answered none of this, though it blew faster than ever. “All right!” Jack said. “Uh, good to meet you finally! We’ll talk again later, I guess!”  
  
Jack had never really had to fight the wind before, and by the time he managed to crawl in through a window, every muscle in his body ached. The yetis who found him on their way to put emergency shutters on all the windows led him back to the room where the other Guardians were waiting for him.  
  
“So,” he said, “I did talk to the Wind! It is a separate entity from me. And…I managed to really upset it.” He rocked back and forth on his heels. “I don’t think I can currently fly, and I, um, kind of doubt that it’s safe for anyone else to fly right now, either.”  
  
“What on earth did you do to make the wind do this?” Tooth asked. The Workshop creaked and groaned like it was some ordinary house caught in a gale.  
  
Jack grimaced. “The Wind and I want different things. It’s awkward to explain, but…I mean, I want to, eventually.”  
  
“How long will eventually take?” Bunny asked. “I can take Sandy and Tooth home by my tunnels, but if the wind is going to be like this for all of us, I don’t know how any of us can get anything done until it calms down.”  
  
“Or, everyone can stay here,” North said. “You know there is room.”  
  
Sandy nodded, but Bunny looked skeptical. “You’re starting your big run-up to Christmas, though, aren’t you? It’s just gone November.”  
  
“That is why everyone should stay! This is a problem that maybe needs all of us to solve, so we should all be in one place. And we must make sure the wind will only be natural by Christmas.”  
  
“I think everyone staying here is a great idea!” Jack said before anyone else could say anything. He smiled nervously. The situation was contrived, sure, but maybe being around each other would help them all say some things that apparently needed to be said.  
  
“I…suppose it would make it easier for us to work together,” Tooth said.  
  
“Wonderful!” Jack said, with much more confidence than he felt. There were a lot of ways this could go wrong, after all—and he still didn’t know what to do about the wind even if everything went right.


End file.
